


Rebellious Welsh Teenagers and Where to Find Them

by celedan



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Humor, Ianto's childhood, M/M, Oral Sex, Overwhelmed Jack, Owen is a Twat, Sequel, Teenage Ianto, past homophobic environment, slight Gwen Bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 22:19:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20298847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celedan/pseuds/celedan
Summary: One morning, Jack wakes up with a teenaged Ianto Jones in his bed – who doesn't take kindly to being in bed with a strange, naked man. While trying to find out what happened to Ianto, the brash, rebellious youth gradually gets on Jack's nerves; he just wants his Ianto back.





	Rebellious Welsh Teenagers and Where to Find Them

**Author's Note:**

> This is a [Sequel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13141449) to my fic "Javic". You will understand this one without having read "Javic", although I recommend it, of course ;-)

A sudden metallic clank made the whole team jump. Swivelling around from their various work places, they glared as one at Owen who sprawled in his office chair, feet up on his desk, and had obviously thrown an empty soda can in the direction of the bin. And missed spectacularly.

“What?!” the doctor bristled, ignoring the pointed looks the others threw at the growing pile of rubbish amassing around the bin.

“Owen, at least try to pretend as if you care about the environment. The planet doesn't save itself.” Ianto sighed, resisting the urge to massage his temples. Or chuck the closest item he could reach at the doctor.

Owen sneered. “I save the planet at least once a week.”

“That doesn't give you the right to behave like an eco-terrorist the other six days,” Ianto snapped back, finally fed up with the other man's impossible behaviour today.

“As if you care. You only make a fuss because Tosh's on her eco-trip this week, and because you're the one who has to pick up our shit as you so forcefully reminded us at this one memorable occasion.”

Jack's sudden booming “That's enough, Owen!” drowned out the girl's appalled outcries of “Owen!” by far, and they all turned in startled surprise at Jack's appearance.

A moment of uncomfortable silence descended over the Hub, the only noise that could be heard above the normal array of noises of the working underground base was the heavy breathing of the various parties.

“I can handle this, Sir,” Ianto ground out through gritted teeth, even Owen noticing now how furious their youngest team member was by now, and he even felt a sliver of remorse for reminding Ianto of the day they had killed the Cyberwoman. 

But not enough to back down.

Jack inclined his head in acknowledgement, knowing that he would have to apologise later for intervening so that Ianto surely must feel like the damsel in distress who needed to have her battles fought by Jack.

Ignoring Ianto for the moment, Jack turned to Owen, glaring at the doctor with a hard glint in his eye. “This becomes really old, Owen,” he snapped. “It's not your team members' fault if something crawled up your ass.”

Owen couldn't help but bite back like an attacking snake. “Then tell him to stop the nagging for once!”

“He is still here, thank you,” Ianto seethed. “If you have something to say to me, then say it to my face!”

“Ianto is doing his job,” Jack interrupted before the argument could escalate. “His nagging is making sure that you can do yours most of the time. Otherwise, you would drown in rubbish or never again find anything in the Archives when you need it.”

Since Jack had, sadly, a point there, Owen simply sneered, and pushed himself out of his office chair. Ignoring the others, he sauntered into the med bay in a devil-may-care manner.

Ianto turned on his heel as well to head in the direction of the lower levels.

“Ianto,” Jack called after him. 

“You can send him down to apologise,” Ianto snapped over his shoulder. “Otherwise, don't disturb me in my nagging.”

Jack remained standing in the middle of the Hub, the girls not saying anything, but Owen being all the more vocal for it, shouting a “you wish” after Ianto. Sighing, the Captain really wished for a nice, uncomplicated Apocalypse.

Ianto had to look twice when, an hour later, Owen marched into his office down in the Archives, his hands deep in his trouser pockets, and wearing a pout like a toddler in a strop.

He even couldn't think of any witty welcome-quip, that's how shocked he was to see Owen down here.

His hands still in his pockets, Owen planted himself in front of Ianto.

“I'm sorry for mentioning Lisa,” he stated woodenly, sounding as if he had carefully chosen and learned his meagre lines, but behind this attitude, Ianto could see how lethal he was at having been send down here at all.

Ianto chose to ignore the doctor's mood, and blinked instead, then he regarded Owen carefully. “But?” Because he knew there was a big “but” coming.

The medic shrugged stroppily. “That's all I was supposed to apologise for.”

Ianto rolled his eyes, but not bothering to ask what Jack had threatened Owen with that he came down to apologise. He could ask Jack later.

He straightened in his chair, and, although seated, stared down his nose at Owen with a detached mien. “Apology accepted,” he answered, and nodded curtly at Owen once, dismissing him.

Staring at each other for a few moments longer, Owen eventually shrugged, sneered, and turned on his heel without another word. On his way out, he bumped against the table with still unidentified artefacts on purpose so that the probably even dangerous objects rattled precariously.

Ianto bit back a snappish response. Instead, he still stared after the doctor, not really knowing what he was supposed to make of the whole situation. Eventually, Ianto shook his head, and bend over his work again.

Some time later, Jack sauntered into the Archives. For a moment, Ianto ignored him to finish cataloguing the artefact he had in front of him before he looked up at the Captain.

“How did you get him to come apologise?” he asked calmly.

Jack shrugged, and threw him a bright grin that held clearly a hint of seriousness behind it which spoke of a more severe confrontation. “My charm,” he answered.

Ianto let the answer stand. He could watch the CCTV of the discussion later, but for now, he let it go. He huffed instead, not being able to help himself; he was still furious at Owen. And to a small amount at Jack, but that was something he was prepared to forget quickly again – he didn't want to spend the time they had in between your daily Apocalypses fighting. And after all, he'd seen that Jack had understood Ianto's reasons to be angry, and he was sure the Captain would do his utmost to make it up to him.

“Don't get yourself worked up because of Owen.” Jack stepped up to Ianto, and embraced him from behind, nuzzling the spot behind his ear soothingly. He laughed when he only got a grumbling answer from Ianto that sounded suspiciously like an array of very colourful Welsh names he could come up with for Owen. Hiding his grin by gently nibbling on Ianto's earlobe, Jack knew the younger man would deny having said any of those words if pressed. “I'll send the others home earlier,” he continued, changing the subject. “You staying?”

Ianto grunted something at him, causing Jack to squeeze him tighter in his embrace, pressing his hands flat against Ianto's chest so that he could feel his heartbeat under one palm.

“What was that?” he chuckled.

“Yeah. Yeah, I'll stay.”

“Good man.” Pressing a sloppy, firm kiss against the side of Ianto's neck, Jack let go of him again, and sauntered away. “See you in my office in ten,” he nonchalantly threw back as a passing shot, waving at Ianto in goodbye.

A small smile managed to creep onto Ianto's face. “Ten minutes and counting, Sir,” he whispered, and clicked the stopwatch he had in the pocket of his suit jacket.

Groaning, Ianto sluggishly blinked awake. He felt... not quite hung over, but certainly completely exhausted. Physically worn out in a pleasant way that you only felt... Oh. He tried to suppress a grin, and it was then that he noticed the warm body behind him for the first time.

Must have gotten lucky last night. Bit by bit, he got the hang of getting laid.

Even if he tragically couldn't really remember a thing.

And could see even less; the only light came from a strange hole in the ceiling in an otherwise dark room. What kind of girl had such a strange room? Or had they sneaked into some kind of... shopping mall or a furniture store or whatever? If it weren't for the admittedly uncomfortable bed, he would have said some kind of... Well, he actually had no idea.

Because he was robbed of one sense, Ianto's sense of smell seemed to work just fine though as his nose was suddenly tickled with an almost overpowering, delicious smell. Wow. He didn't know anybody could smell that good...

“Stop wriggling around,” a sleep-gruff voice suddenly mumbled behind him, and a strong arm came around him to tighten around his middle to keep him still. “It's not even six.”

Ianto froze, and, shell-shocked, stared at the decidedly male arm wrapped around him.

For a split-second, he remained completely still, his brain running itself ragged about the options on how to react presented to himself. In the end, he acted spontaneously, flung the arm away violently, and jumped from the bed, noticing in that split-second that he was completely naked on top of it all. Spinning around, he faced his bed partner who suddenly turned on a small bedside table lamp, and stared at him with wide, startled but sleepy eyes.

Oh God! The guy was so old!

Not that being in bed with a man his own age would have been any better.

“Ianto, what...” The man's words died in his throat as he took in Ianto's form, his intense gaze scrutinizing Ianto from head to toe in a puzzled frown. Then, his eyes widened. He made a sound in his throat like a wounded animal, and then jerked forward, as if to jump from the bed as well.

Panicking, Ianto's frantically darting gaze came to a stop on an old-fashioned revolver that lay on the bedside table next to him. Without thinking, he lunged for it, and shakily pointed it at the man.

“Don't come near me!” he cried. “What have you done to me?! I'm underage! I can call the police!”

The man blinked, perplex, then held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Calm down,” he said soothingly. “Nothing happened that you didn't want.”

“What!” Ianto screamed. “Are you nuts? I'm not gay!”

Suddenly, the man rolled his eyes at him which threw Ianto a little. The hand holding the weapon wavered. The man used Ianto's distraction to scramble forwards and suddenly wrestled the weapon out of the startled young man's grip.

Putting his Webley safely away, out of the teenager's reach, Jack then turned towards his de-aged lover. Whatever had happened to Ianto, he could so not use this mess right now. As if they hadn't enough work already.

He looked the young man up and down, trying not to let his eyes linger on any spot of naked skin for too long lest Ianto freaked out again. He was not used, and not fit, to deal with any prudish, hysterical teenagers at this early hour. Or at all.

“Ianto, calm down, and listen to me,” Jack tried again. Wide blue eyes darted towards Jack's face to meet his gaze, seemingly prepared to listen although the twitching of Ianto's body rather told him the young man would like nothing more than make a dash for the ladder instead. “Do you remember anything from before you woke up just now? Do you remember me?”

Mulishly, Ianto shook his head. “Nothing. And I would have remembered getting picked up by... by you. Did you put something in my drink?”

Jack rolled his eyes again. “Of course I didn't!”

Sighing heavily, and brushing his hand through his hair, completely at a loss, Jack got out of the bed on the other side from where Ianto still stood, pulling on some clothes that were strewn around on his side of the bed to put Ianto a little at ease. “Okay, listen, this may come as a shock, but you're actually not... what age are you?”

“Fifteen,” Ianto spit accusingly, raising a pointed eyebrow which Jack ignored.

“You're not really fifteen.”

Ianto frowned. “What're you talking about. Course I'm fifteen.”

Jack suppressed a groan, and felt a headache coming. He always hated having to explain aliens and the Rift to innocent, normal people who got sucked into all this, but this time, it was even worse since he had to explain it to his own lover who didn't recognise him any more. Had Ianto felt that helpless as well when he had to explain it all to a de-aged Jack a few months ago? Probably, but at least Jack, or rather Javic, had already known about other worlds, aliens, and even time travel. For a teenage Ianto, this was all completely new, and Jack feared that he would have a hard time convincing him. And this whole waking up naked in bed with a stranger – with a man – didn't make the situation any better.

So, Jack haltingly started to explain what happened to Ianto, but with every word he spoke, Ianto looked at him as if he was barmy, and the young man looked ready to bolt again.

In the end though, Ianto's irritation – which Jack was very familiar with – gained the upper hand over his fear. Standing with his hands stemmed into his hips as he had seemingly enough of this, the frown on Ianto's face got deeper and deeper. He seemed so irritated all of a sudden that he didn't even realise he was still standing naked in Jack's bedroom. But Jack wisely didn't point this out to him since he didn't want another hysterical fit thrown.

“You actually wanna tell me that there are real aliens out there, and that I work for you catching them, and in truth, I'm not fifteen but twenty-five?” Ianto summed the whole situation up, his Welsh accent – which had already been stronger than the adult Ianto's – getting stronger the more agitated he got. “And that I'm your lover?”

That seemed to be the worst of all for the young man. Jack couldn't help but be irritated.

“Yes,” he said slowly. “Basically, that's it.”

Ianto scrunched up his nose in a rebellious fashion. “I don't believe you. You just wanna divert from the real situation.”

Groaning, Jack buried his face in his hands. “Goddess, give me strength,” he muttered.

When he looked up again, Ianto still stood there with his hands on his hips, a mulish glare on his face.

Rolling his eyes in irritation, Jack ignored the teenager for a moment, marched to his wardrobe, and pulled out some clothes. He threw them at Ianto a little impatiently.

“Here. Put this on, and come with me,” he snapped, and then simply climbed up the ladder, hiding a chuckle at the mortified heavy blush that suddenly spread over Ianto's face as he finally realised that he was still naked.

A few minutes later, Ianto followed him (unavoidably since there was nowhere else he could escape down there, and he had obviously decided that he didn't want to spend any more time in Jack's bedroom either). Jack tried to ignore the absolutely strange – and wrong – sight of Ianto in some old tracksuit bottoms of Jack's and one of his T-shirts, topped off with a pair of worn trainers that were actually Ianto's, and had somehow found their way into Jack's wardrobe.

“Come,” he snapped again, grasped Ianto's wrist, who bristled at the contact, and pulled him from the office impatiently. In the main part of the Hub, Jack pushed a button on his vortex manipulator, and in the next second, a screeching noise made them look up. Myfanwy came speeding out of her nest the second Jack had released the barricade at the entrance of her cave.

Watching Ianto from the corner of his eyes, he saw the young man stiffen at the sight of the dinosaur. A relieved, smug smile played around Jack's lips. Now, Ianto simply  _had_ to believe him.

Apart from the tense posture of his body and his wide eyes, Ianto didn't show any other reaction to seeing a life dinosaur.

He sniffed eventually. “That's... Surely that's a robot. Or... or a hologram, like in Star Wars.”

Jack felt his jaw drop, and he was tempted to simply put the brat over his knee.

“Serious?!” he cried, now completely at his wit's end, and at the same time absolutely astonished – in a negative way – how different this impossible, suspicious, mutinous boy was from the man he knew, even if he spotted traces of the older Ianto in the teenager. Or rather, he saw traces of the teenager in his Ianto behind all the professional, remote exterior and the suits and his – clearly appropriated, he realised that now since the brat in front of him had no civil manners to speak of at all – polite manners?

His head reeled, and Jack felt a headache coming. He desperately needed some help here.

As if his prayers had been answered, the alarm sounded, and in marched Tosh and Owen. For a moment, he wondered what they were doing here so early, it wasn't even half past seven, but since he didn't want to question his luck, he didn't wonder about it too closely.

They stopped short as they spotted the strange teenager next to Jack. Tosh blinked, confused, and Owen cocked an eyebrow.

“What, Tea Boy too old for you already?” he fired off instead of a “good morning”.

“Owen,” Tosh breathed shakily, grasping his arm tightly while she stared with wide, shocked eyes at the teenager.

“What?!” Owen snapped, irritated, but then, he looked at the young man more closely. His own eyes widened as well. “Shit!”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “And that's your cue, do something with him.” Glad, Jack pushed the teenager forwards in Owen's direction who protested colourfully at that – who both protested colourfully at that. “Do some tests with him. Do every test you can think of with him, just... do something.”

Both Tosh as well as Owen had to try very hard to suppress the amused twitching of their lips as they realised how fed up and overwhelmed Jack was with the whole situation. Owen eventually didn't hold back any more, and he snickered. Ignoring the glare Jack and Ianto threw him, he grasped the teenager's upper arm, and dragged him to the med bay.

Jack let out a relieved sigh when Ianto's violent protests faded away when he disappeared with Owen. For a moment, he simply stood there, and enjoyed the peace and calm. He had a feeling that it would be the last minutes of undisturbed peace he had until they could solve this mess.

He opened his eyes again, and looked down at Tosh when he felt her comforting hand on his arm. She smiled sympathetically at him. “You need some coffee,” she declared. “I'll go get some.”

“No, no,” Jack shook his head. “I need you here. Call Gwen, and tell here we need her here immediately. She can bring some coffee on her way in.”

Tosh nodded. “What should I tell her?”

Jack grimaced, and then sniffed haughtily. “Nothing,” he replied. “Does she need a reason when her boss tells her he needs her here?”

Tosh raised a deadpan eyebrow that she'd surely learned from Ianto.

Nodding with a sigh, Jack agreed with her, but still, Gwen should simply learn to obey when he summoned her, and trust that he knew when the situation was urgent enough for him to demand her presence.

The headache got worse. Jack was tempted to crawl back into his – lonely – bed.

By the time Gwen arrived – predictably a little pissed off, but armed with coffee nonetheless –, Owen dragged a mulish teenager out of the med bay, effectively shutting up the tirade of demanding questions Gwen had been in the process of delivering.

She simply stood there staring at Ianto, the coffee tray forgotten in her hands so that it almost tumbled to the floor if Tosh hadn't rescued it from her lax grip.

“Wha... What...” That was all Gwen managed to say for which everyone was very grateful.

“Boardroom,” Jack snapped curtly, and marched away.

The others followed.

In the boardroom, Owen pushed a pouting teenager into one of the chairs farthest from the door lest he made a dash for it.

Sinking into his chair, Jack grabbed for his coffee cup, and held it between his hands as if it was his lifeline. “What have you got?” he addressed Owen, but before the doctor could open his mouth, Gwen beat him to it.

“What's going on here, Jack?” she demanded, glaring between him and Ianto – who simply glared back.

Jack sighed. Okay, mind, they had a right to know, of course, but he would dearly wish she wouldn't be so demanding about it.

“I don't know,” he shrugged. “I woke up, and Ianto was like... that.” He waved his hand in the vague direction of the teenager. “That's it.”

“As I wanted to say,” Owen began, glaring at Gwen for the interruption, “physically, he is fine. Just a normal teenager, awkwardly growing limbs and spots.”

“I don't have spots!” Ianto flared up. “And I'm not awkward.”

Owen had the gall to snicker at that, aggravating the teenager even more.

“Owen!” Jack snapped, fed up with this whole situation.

Fortunately, Owen sobered again quickly, but the look he gave Jack wasn't very encouraging. “I'm sorry, Jack, but there is nothing unusual about him. I did every test I could think of, but there are no traces of suspicious chemical substances in his blood stream, strange biological components or even Rift energy. As I said, he is a normal teenager, and I have no idea what could have caused this.”

Sighing dejectedly, Jack nodded, turning to Tosh after. “What are the chances of finding out if some alien tech did this?”

Tosh bit her lip for a moment while her gaze flitted to Ianto contemplatively. “He wasn't in the field yesterday... So, it could only be something that's here at the Hub. Maybe he activated something in the Archives by accident.”

“That's normally my metier,” Jack grumbled.

“I'll go through yesterday's CCTV from the Archives,” Tosh declared, and stood up.

“You're a braver person than I, Tosh,” Owen snorted. “I wouldn't watch that; They were alone down there for a while.”

While Jack bristled, Tosh simply smiled cheekily. “That's the perk of it.”

And with that, she was gone, leaving Owen sitting there with his mouth hanging open and Jack, who didn't know if he should burst out laughing or simply let his head bang down onto the table top in the hope of knocking himself out for the rest of the day.

Looking around, he met the eyes of the remaining members of his team, last looking at Ianto. He grimaced. He had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do with him now. His gaze slid to Owen. But since the doctor immediately interpreted Jack's pleading gaze correctly, he jumped up, holding his hands up defensively. “No way. Babysitting's not my division.”

And with that, Owen was out the door as well.

Huffing in affront, Jack met Gwen's eyes. She smiled brightly at him, and nodded. “Sure,” she chirped. “I think he's in the best hands with me anyway.”

Jack was just glad that the others hadn't heard her statement – including the adult Ianto – which, basically, was one huge insult against her team mates that they were unable to safely and properly amuse a teenager for a while. Hadn't they had this discussion already with her when Jack had been de-aged? Best not to tell Ianto when he was back to his old self that she was going at it again.

But since she offered exactly what he wanted right that moment, Jack let it slide. Forcing a smile onto his lips, he nodded, and made a generous go-ahead motion, indulging her.

Turning her gap-toothed smile on Ianto, she familiarly took Ianto's hand. “Come on, Ianto. We'll find something fun to do.”

Jack suddenly had a bad sense of foreboding as he saw Ianto rolling his eyes as he was dragged out of the boardroom.

The headache getting even worse, Jack left the boardroom to escape into his office.

“Owen!” he barked crankily when he passed the doctor's extremely messy work station though, pointing his finger at him menacingly. “You're on bin-duty while Ianto's unfit for action.”

Lowering the magazine he had been reading since he had done his share in founding out what was wrong with Ianto, the doctor gaped at Jack. “Excuse me!?”

Since he was irritated with everyone and everything at the moment, even with such trivia, Jack stopped on his way to plant himself in front of Owen's desk to glare at the doctor, hands on his hips. “You heard me. You're the messiest, you're taking over Ianto's job since you're obviously undersupplied with work.”

Smacking the magazine (that wasn't even something medical-related and thereby justifiable to read during work hours) down, Owen glared rebelliously at Jack. “Why can't he tidy up anyway?” he barked. “You can't start early enough training today's youth in such things.”

“Yeah, look at the result if you don't,” Tosh threw in, unfazed, from her work station without even looking away from her screen. 

Flipping her off, Owen sneered, but Jack was already gone, his point made clear.

The slamming of his office door was the last that could be heard from Jack for a while.

Sometime during mid morning, a sudden commotion caused new turmoil in the hitherto quiet Hub as a stroppy teenager suddenly stormed into the main part from wherever Gwen had dragged him.

“Ianto, sweetheart!” Gwen cried, rushing after the teenager.

“You suck!” Ianto cried back without stopping his escape from her. “You're not my mother, don't treat me like a baby.”

Gwen gaped after the teenager who sought refuge behind Tosh's work station, but then glared daggers at Owen who burst out in a cackle.

“That's not funny, Owen!” Gwen snapped, planting her fists into her sides. “I just tried to be nice.”

“You clearly have a way with kids,” Owen wheezed with laughter. “Your clucky approach worked so well with little Jack already after all!”

Blowing out her cheeks in affront, she turned her gaze in the direction of Jack's office, seeking support. Jack had indeed come out at the commotion, but all he did was watch the scene detachedly. He met her eyes, and shrugged. “I'm not his mother either,” he said apologetically. “I can't tell him what to do.”

“You're his boss,” Gwen snapped. “And his lover. Course you can tell him what to do!”

“He's not my lover!” Ianto threw in angrily, but was ignored from all parties.

“Have you heard what he said to me?!” she continued, working herself up more and more.

“What's the saying: Children and fools always tell the truth,” Owen snickered before Jack could give a reply.

After blinking in shock for a moment, Gwen suddenly spun around, and with a heart-felt “asshole!” that was probably directed at more than one of the gathered males, stormed away.

“Owen!” Tosh said into the silence, flashing reproachful eyes at her colleague.

“What?! Her own fault if she can't stop treating kids like stupid infants.”

Since he didn't want to hear any more of this, Jack snapped a curt “Ianto!” at the teenager, and after the young man's gaze zoomed in on him, jerkily pointed his thumb behind him into his office.

Sticking out his lower lip, Ianto obediently trudged into Jack's office.

“Sit,” Jack ordered, and to his astonishment, Ianto did as he was told.

“Why did you have to insult Gwen?” Jack sighed irritably, slumping into his office chair. “She was just trying to help.”

“I don't like being treated like a baby,” Ianto sneered.

Sighing again (he did that a lot today), Jack nodded. “Yeah, okay, I see your point. She can be a bit... overbearing.” His flashing blue eyes turned onto Ianto. “But on the other hand, if you want to be treated like an adult, then stop behaving like a stroppy toddler. It's not her fault that you're in this situation.”

“It's not mine either,” Ianto hissed back. He crossed his arms in front of his chest – still wearing Jack's oversized T-shirt, the Captain noticed; he really had to get him something else to wear. “And just for protocol, I'm still not one-hundred percent sure you're telling me the truth.”

Today's infamous headache that had abated slightly threatened to flare up again at the mulish tone.

“I want you to apologise to her,” Jack stated firmly, but slowly. “In fact, I'm sure that your older self will want to apologise to her immediately when he learns about your behaviour.”

“But he's not here, I'm here,” Ianto retorted tartly. “Unbelievable I'll turn out to become such a stuffy wimp.”

Flaring up, Jack glared at the teenager, feeling the need to defend Ianto's honour against... well, against himself. “He's the bravest, cleverest, and most capable man I know! And it would do you good to start taking him as an example because quit frankly, I'm fed up with your snotty behaviour.”

For a moment, Jack thought he detected hurt flashing in the blue eyes, but the defiance was back in a second again so that he couldn't be really sure.

“You'll just want him back so you can screw him again,” the teen sneered. 

“Yeah, and tell you what, you'll become really good at it,” Jack sneered back, not caring that he shouldn't let himself be pulled into this childish tantrum. 

His cheeks suddenly beet-red, Ianto jumped up. “I'm not gay!” he screeched, and glared daggers at Jack.

Irritated, Jack threw his hands into the air. “Would you just stop this nonsense! You twenty-first century humans and your stupid labels! God!” Briskly, he pushed his chair back to stomp over towards his decanter of Scotch (either it was drinking, or he would surely put the brat over his knee otherwise), pouring himself a generous helping. If Ianto insisting on this century's outdated labels wasn't so exhausting, it would have been amusing.

Jack rolled his eyes as he saw Ianto flinch from the corner of his eye when he stood up. He slammed his glass back onto the table without having drunk any of the amber-coloured liquid, precious Scotch sloshing over the rim and onto his hand at his forcefulness. “And would you please stop acting as if I'd jump you any second now. Your behaviour spoils even the most innocent flirting. Believe it or not, I'm not into scrawny little things like you. I prefer real men.”

The last was probably a low blow, but he was so, so fed up with this situation. It had been a long time since Jack felt so out of control, and all of that because of  _Ianto_ , a man who normally made him feel incredibly  _in_ control and at peace.

“I don't have to listen to this,” Ianto stammered, his body shaking with sudden visible insecurity and confusion which Jack couldn't quite place. The anger Jack read in the blue eyes though, that he could understand; the boy was clearly overwhelmed. Gods, he hated this. He wanted his Welshman back who calmly countered his flirting and come-ons with his usual dry, sarcastic quips, not this youth who only reacted with confused rage. 

All of a sudden, the teenager raced from Jack's office. Jack followed after him, but only to the door of the office from where he could watch the young man stroll aimlessly through the Hub for a little while, still clearly in a strop, but gradually calming down as his steps seemed to lead him over to Tosh as if magically drawn to her. Jack had to suppress a snicker. Seemed little Ianto had a crush on their tech-genius.

Eventual, the Asian woman noticed the teenager prowling around her workstation, and she looked up at him, taking off her glasses to look at him expectantly.

Curious, Jack silently crept a little closer to see what Ianto would do.

Tosh raised an expectant eyebrow, but smiled at the boy in a friendly way (Jack knew her, though, she couldn't really need the interruption right now, which showed in her polite but otherwise bland smile). “Can I help you, Ianto?”

Staring at her for a moment, Ianto eventually cleared his throat, and shuffled closer, crossing his arms in front of his chest to look a little tougher in the oversized clothes he still wore. Jack saw the corners of Tosh's lips twitch.

“You work here long?” he asked her, trying to appear nonchalantly.

“I do,” she replied calmly, not giving away anything.

“So...” Ianto cuffed the floor with the toe of his trainers. “Then, we know each other quite well?”

Now, a little chuckle escaped Tosh. “Yes, we do. We're good friends.”

“Really?” Ianto looked up from his trainers to search her eyes. “Well, maybe we could be more than friends,” he stated. “I mean,” he hastily continued at her raised eyebrow, clearing his throat and lowering his voice to appear less than the bumbling teenager he was, “I know you're older than me, but don't think I'm some blushing virgin. I've had girlfriends before,” he bragged, raising his chin proudly. “And I understand you're doing some dangerous jobs here. I can help you with that, I'm tough. I already have a criminal record. You know, it's all a big deal.”

Jack had to violently suppress the sudden laugh that wanted to escape him at the typical male teenage bragging which was so completely out of character for Ianto. Poor boy. Obviously, nobody had told him yet that women – maybe except for those that lived where he'd grown up at the estate – weren't really impressed with a man having a criminal record, even if said man tried to make it look like a big thing like stealing a car or robbing a bank when in reality – as Jack as well as Tosh very well knew –, Ianto being arrested because of store theft had been nothing major. Especially compared to what Tosh had been arrested for.

As if reading Jack's mind, Tosh cocked an amused eyebrow. “Really,” she drawled. “That's cute. Try being arrested for treason, then come to me again.”

Ianto's eyes lit up in impressed excitement, and both Torchwood agents realised at the same time that it was exactly the wrong thing to say for her to get Ianto off her case.

When he was his old self, Ianto would be mortified for the way he hit on Tosh, Jack snickered...

Taking in a deep breath, Ianto almost stumbled over his words. “Wow, really, then we could...”

“No, kid,” Tosh chuckled, interrupting him firmly. “Just... no.” She had to stop because she clearly couldn't get out another word, on the verge of a hysterical laughing fit which she desperately tried to hold back.

Ianto pouted for a moment, and Jack saw a storm brewing in the teen's eyes, but then, as suddenly as it had come, the threatening outburst because of any hurt pride about feeling ridiculed settled down. Jack breathed a sigh of relief – not that he didn't think Tosh couldn't have handled a stroppy teenage Ianto; out of them all, she seemed to be the one who handled him best up until now –; Ianto must have realised that Tosh was neither mocking him nor rejecting him out of malice, but that she only meant to be kind to him because she was fond of him.

Obviously accepting Tosh's no, Ianto suddenly shrugged, turned a bit red in sheepish embarrassment, and then shuffled away from Tosh.

The computer-tech's eyes met Jack's suddenly, and they both shared the feeling of relief at the diverted disaster and equally fond amusement.

The bubble burst when Gwen, who had returned at some point into the main Hub, opened her mouth to spew forth a completely unqualified, snarky “Why does he flirt with  _Tosh_ , but not me?!”

With Tosh blushing in hurt embarrassment about Gwen's degrading comment and hastily bending over her computer again, Jack called out a snappish “Brainy is the new sexy!” back at Gwen that shut her up effectively.

God, what was the matter with her today?! Did she have her period? Was she pregnant? He really had to have a little chat about her irritating behaviour towards her colleagues. But, unfortunately, that would have to wait until he had his Ianto back who would give him a kick in his butt to really go through with it; otherwise, Jack knew he'd only let her get away with it again (not his finest habit, he knew).

Shaking his head at the surreality of the day which let Jack suspect that maybe not only Ianto had been affected, he watched his young lover throw an irritated glare at Gwen before making his curious way in the direction of the med bay.

Jack had another sense of foreboding, and resisted the urge to simply close his office door to escape snarky doctor and rebellious teenager coming to blows.

Retreating back to his desk – with the door left wide open – Jack surmised that not only had Ianto been turned back into a teenager, and Gwen had been reduced to being bitchy all day, he himself seemed to have been turned into a coward all of a sudden that seemed to run from all ugly confrontations and responsibilities he encountered today.

As predicted, it didn't take long until bitchy snarks and shouting could be heard from the med bay, growing in volume as well as ferocity – or creativity of the words being hurled back and forth.

But since Jack thought that both men probably needed to have it out with each other, were long overdue in fact, he let them be. Unlike his Ianto who preferred either taking the doctor's abuse or hit back with controlled, biting sarcasm, teenage Ianto had no qualms about giving as good as Owen got, simply screaming back abuse at the doctor.

When, eventually, everything went quiet in the med bay, Jack felt himself compelled to at least investigate if the two were still breathing.

Tosh and Gwen seemed to have had the same urge, and so, the three came together at the stairs leading down into the med bay, cautiously peering down.

They all did a double-take.

Ianto and Owen were indeed still alive, but instead of having come to blows and lying unconscious on the floor, the two seemed to have come to some kind of understanding as they were huddled together in front of Owen's computer down there, playing one of Owen's computer games in peaceful harmony.

Somehow, that sight was the most surreal of everything that had happened today.

When it was lunch time, Owen announced that he would take Ianto out to get some food for them all so that the boy could breath some fresh air instead of the mouldy air down in the Hub. Everybody wisely refrained from commenting on Owen's sudden caring attitude, instead, Jack simply pushed a bundle of clothes at Ianto that he had retrieved from the other man's locker. It consisted of a proper shirt and jeans as well as underwear and some boots that Ianto somehow loved, but would only wear when he had to clean out the Weevils' cells or when Jack wanted to role-play.

Actually smiling at Jack for the clothes, Ianto went to change, and before long, he and Owen had left the Hub together, Ianto showing extreme excitement when Owen told him they would take his sport's car to pick up their lunch.

Shaking his head, Jack went back into his office, actually hoping to get done some nice, boring, normal paper work.

A while later, Jack came into the boardroom, drawn there by Tosh and Gwen's hysterical laughter. They were already red in the face. As was Owen, but not from amusement, and Ianto simply watched the women's antics with a carefully neutral mien.

Crossing his arms before his chest expectantly, Jack looked from one to the other with a raised eyebrow.

Gwen tried to explain, but she managed only wheezing noises that could have been some alien language – or garbled Welsh – for all Jack knew.

Tosh tried as well, and had more luck, even if she only managed a few breathless words between laughing fits. “...Pizza guy thought... Owen... Ianto's father...”

Pouting, Owen stuck his tongue out at the girls, and slammed the pizza cartons they had brought with them onto the table. “Like Hell do I look like a father!” he sniffed. “I'm clearly big brother material.”

Trying to hold in his own laughter that threatened to burst out of him, Jack had to actually agree with Owen who didn't look old enough to be a teenager's father. Well... when he had his face in that pinched expression though...

Grunting, Jack took in a deep breath, and rather asked what kind of pizza they had got them for lunch, trying to violently tramp down the disconcerting prospect of Owen and Ianto getting along so fabulously.

What was the world getting to!

In the afternoon, Ianto wasn't so fond of his new-found buddy any more when Tosh had finished looking through yesterday's CCTV only to discover that it was, in all likelihood, Owen's fault that Ianto had been turned into a teenager.

Their disbelieving eyebrows climbing higher and higher, the team watched Owen's butchered attempt at apologising to Ianto down in the Archives. He had then, obviously to spite Ianto, not only bumped against the table with the of yet unidentified objects, he had actually nicked one without Ianto noticing.

“Which one was it?” Jack asked sternly, glaring at Owen.

The doctor shrugged defensively, even if his cheeks had a hue of sheepish red covering them. “Don't know. I just grabbed it. I wanted to hide it somewhere so that Tea Boy couldn't find it.”

“Very mature, Owen.” Jack rolled his eyes.

“What happened then?” Tosh asked, really trying to be patient, so as if speaking to a small child – although it was so, so hard not to snap at the doctor...

Owen shrugged again. “Took it up here. I was bored, so I started playing with it. Then, a Rift alert came in, and I threw it away.”

The others rolled their eyes. Not even Jack would carelessly chuck away a possibly dangerous alien artefact into the next corner.

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright. Owen, fetch that artefact, then you can help Gwen doing some research in the Archives, see if you can find something out. If necessary, call Archie, maybe he has some information, I want all possible sources checked to take care of this mess. Tosh, you check that thing inside out. That's your first and only priority to find out how we get Ianto back.” Jack slapped a hand onto the youth's shoulder who stood next to him. “And I'll take him out of here. It's late already.”

Well, that was maybe a little exaggerated, it wasn't even five, but Jack didn't want Ianto in the Hub unsupervised while the others tried to find a way to turn him back.

Gwen frowned at that, and Jack steeled himself for a confrontation.

“You think that's wise, Jack?” she asked. 

“Why not?” he shrugged, a little confused and impatient. “Owen did enough tests. You can work with the results to test the artefact on. Don't want you experimenting on Ianto directly anyway until you're one hundred percent sure it will turn him back instead of making him even younger or blow his head off.”

They all ignored the teenager's shocked squeak.

“Yeah okay, but what I mean; What if he changes his own future if he sees something at his flat that, I don't kn...”

“Good thinking, Gwen,” Jack interrupted her, nodding in approval, “but he's not the real teenage-Ianto that was thrown into the future. He's our Ianto, just turned back into a teenager. He can't change his own future because it already happened for him. And anyway, don't you think he's seen enough already around here that would pose a bigger threat for his future than at his flat?”

Gwen pondered this for a moment. “You're right.”

She was still frowning at him though, and Jack hoped she wouldn't start again with the whole don't-you-dare-sleep-with-him-he's-too-young argument. The situation with Ianto and Javic had been completely different, and Jack – a little affronted that she thought he would simply go for the teenager against his will because he couldn't rein in his sex drive – didn't plan to sleep with Ianto anyway. The young man had made his point very clear on that, and Jack would abide to it.

But since, for once, she didn't speak her mind on it, Jack ignored her look, and decidedly turned Ianto around to steer him out of the Hub.

“Call me immediately if you have any news,” he called back over his shoulder.

Jack clearly sensed that Ianto was reluctant to come with him, but for once, the teenager kept silent about it instead of throwing a tantrum.

Letting them into Ianto's flat, Jack carefully watched the boy as he looked around. He'd loved to hear Ianto's thoughts what he thought of his older self's taste in furnishing – they were probably not very benevolent since he didn't seem to be overly impressed in general with the man he would become. It was almost as if Ianto couldn't stand his older self because he was jealous of him. But that was rubbish, wasn't it.

At least, Jack was glad that the youth seemed to have calmed down somewhat. The typically teenage-male show-off-behaviour he had displayed the whole time while at the Hub had gotten old rather quickly until it was just plain exhausting.

“Who's that?”

“Hm?” Jack raised his eyes to see what Ianto meant, snapping out of his wool-gathering he'd been lost in for a moment. His heart missed a beat when he saw the teen point at one of the only two pictures on the bookshelf; one was of the whole team, the two of them not really being ready yet to appear in a picture together alone, just as a normal couple (although nowadays, they practically lived together, wether back at the Hub or here at Ianto's flat). The other, the one Ianto pointed at, was the one of him and Lisa. Cursing himself inwardly that Jack hadn't had any time to put the picture away, that he hadn't even _thought_ to pack away any things that could arouse uncomfortable questions in the first place – Ianto would have thought of something like that, and even if Gwen _had_ warned him, this was something he wouldn't have rated as dangerous in the first place anyway –, Jack cringed. “Her name's Lisa. She... is your ex.”

He dearly hoped that Ianto would leave it at that, and not start to question why his older self had a picture of his ex-girlfriend on his shelf. Which, under normal circumstances, meant that when people weren't together any more but still put their ex-partner's picture up was because that person was deceased – or they had broken up, and one party was a creepy stalker.

But Ianto sti ll stared at him with widened eyes, even if he didn't ask any questions. “Wow,” he breathed. “Dad will have a fit.”

Jack frowned at hearing that, not really liking the implications. Decidedly, he crossed his arms before his chest. “What do you think would be worse for your father; his son having a boyfriend or a black woman for a girlfriend?”

Ianto shrugged. “Would be a close fit.”

Jack decided he liked Ianto's father less and less. He was glad that the man was already dead. Which Ianto didn't need to know about right now though.

“Are you hungry?” he asked to change the topic, and, without waiting for an answer, disappeared into the kitchen.

“Sure,” Ianto answered, having followed Jack into the spotless room. 

Jack was glad that Ianto had been grocery shopping only a couple of days ago; that meant they at least had a full fridge.

Humming slightly to himself, Jack perused the contents of the fridge to come up with something to cook. 

Making a satisfied noise when he had decided on a meal, he pulled out all the ingredients, and set them on the counter.

“What are you doing?” Ianto asked curiously, slowly advancing on Jack while eyeing all the fresh ingredients in front of them. 

Jack frowned, puzzled. “Cooking something for us.” 

“Oh,” the teenager breathed, clearly taken-aback.

He cocked his head at Ianto questioningly, and the youth met Jack's eyes.

Ianto shrugged. “'S just... it's been a long time since anybody cooked something just for me.”

Jack nodded in understanding, letting the comment stand. He could imagine what Ianto's diet had looked like as a pubescent boy, especially after his mother had died. Now, Jack understood why Ianto always seemed to be so pleased when Jack cooked for them. He vowed, from now on, to cook even more regularly for the two of them.

“Thanks.” Ianto's soft voice startled him, and he looked back over his shoulder at the teen, the onion in his hand forgotten. Ianto met his eyes for a moment, then, curiously, averted his gaze shyly. “It's nice. You doing that for me, I mean.”

Jack smiled reassuringly at the suddenly flustered, awkward teenager. “You're welcome. Do you wanna help me?”

Ianto's eyes widened. “Really? But... I don't know what to do.”

“I'll show you,” Jack assured. “Come here. You can peel the potatoes.”

Preparing their dinner side by side almost felt to Jack like he had his Ianto with him again. The animosity and bravado and pigheadedness the teenage-Ianto had displayed today were completely gone, and Jack marvelled at the suddenly awfully shy young man that reminded him more and more of the older Ianto. 

While supervising the last of their dishes in the oven, Jack's mobile rang.

“Excuse me,” he murmured to the youth, and hastily retreated into the living room.

“Tosh! What have you got for me?” Jack hoped that it was good news.

“The good news is,” Tosh answered, “we identified the object. Archie could indeed help with that as he had a file on the thing. He called it the Second-Chance-Device which is pretty accurate in my opinion since it does exactly that; gives you a second chance at childhood.”

“Why the Hell would someone invent something like this?!” Owen blared in the background, clearly irritated.

Tosh and Jack ignored him.

“Ianto was probably affected since he was the last person that had touched the object when Owen activated it.”

“Good work,” Jack praised, relieved. “I want that thing rated as dangerous if it's all over. Think about it; if it gets into the wrong hands, key persons that are important for the course of history could be taken out by turning them back into a child.”

“Of course, you're right,” Tosh agreed, surprise evident in her voice at the possibility. “We'll put it in the secure vaults as soon as we have Ianto back.”

“Great. Now the bad news?”

There was a second's silence on the other end of the line, and Jack imagined Tosh shrugging helplessly. 

“It will take a while to figure it out,” she answered simply.

Jack sighed. “I was afraid of that. Well, okay, nothing that can be done about that. Keep going, and keep me informed.”

“Will do.”

And with that, Tosh terminated the call.

For a moment, Jack stared down at his mobile, lost in thought. 

“Are you going back?”

Ianto's quiet, composed voice startled him, and he spun around. The youth stood in the entranceway to the living room, looking unsure and timid.

Jack smiled at him reassuringly. “No,” he answered, and put his phone away. “Dinner ready yet?”

The despondent expression on Ianto's face brightened, and he nodded eagerly. “In a few minutes.”

“Great,” Jack beamed. “Why don't you help me set the table.”

Dinner was a pleasant affair even if Jack barely tasted the food; he was much too busy watching Ianto enjoy the first home-cooked meal the boy had in years, as well as listening to the young man talking exuberantly, gradually coming out of his hard-to-crack shell.

They took dessert, something chocolatly Ianto had bought a few days ago, over to the couch when Jack suggested watching a movie. He'd effectively lost Ianto's attention and at the same time ensured his eternal gratefulness as the teen discovered his older self's Bond-collection. He was beside himself with joy at the couple of films he hadn't seen yet.

Being infected by Ianto's giddy joy, Jack settled down next to him on the couch to watch Pierce Brosnan on screen although Jack rather focussed his attention on to Ianto who practically inhaled first Tomorrow Never Dies, and immediately after The World Is Not Enough. 

“I believe you now,” Ianto stated eventually during a relatively quiet scene.

Startled, Jack glanced at him.

Ianto shrugged, and continued watching.

Jack blinked, a little confused, turned his gaze back to the screen, and then did a double-take. “You believe us because of Bond?!”

A grin tugged at Ianto's lips. “Sure. You can always depend on Bond. Where else would two Bond movies I've never even heard of come from otherwise. You can't fake such brilliance.”

“Do I need to get jealous,” Jack grumbled under his breath, and pouted involuntarily.

He heard Ianto chuckle next to him, but other than that, the youth didn't heed him any more.

When the closing credits flickered over the screen, Ianto started talking again, much to Jack's surprise who was astonished how much the young man suddenly opened up to him, seemingly out of the blue.

“I wanted to be like that,” Ianto softly confessed.

“Like Bond?” Jack enquired equally as softly, and his gaze was drawn once more to Ianto who had his eyes firmly fixed onto the screen.

“Yeah. It was all so exciting. All the adventure, and the expensive cars, and the dashing suits, and the girls...”

“And the danger,” Jack reminded him.

“Sure,” Ianto shrugged. “But better than living at the estate, having no perspective but becoming a criminal or doing a shitty job you can't even properly provide for your family with. I don't want to be like that.”

Ianto startled when Jack suddenly put a comforting hand onto his shoulder, and he looked at Jack for the first time. 

Jack smiled, the mysterious puzzle that was Ianto Jones suddenly starting to come together with a whole lot more newly discovered pieces.

“You have all that. The adventure, the car, the danger even, the suits – and boy, do you have the suits –, and,” he bit his lip, not sure if he should bring the topic up again. “And maybe not the girl, but you got the boy.”

Ianto stared at Jack for a long time so that Jack felt as if he was under scrutinization by the older Ianto all of a sudden, not the teen. But then, the youth smiled crookedly. “I do, don't I.”

“You're my Bond, Ianto,” Jack let slip suddenly, unbidden, and he held his breath anxiously as he waited for Ianto's reaction.

“I'm not,” the younger man whispered. “He is.”

Jack shook his head with a smile. “You are him.”

Ianto shook his head as well, evading Jack's eyes, but suddenly, out of the blue, he leaned over, and kissed the older man.

Jack inhaled in shocked surprise; this was the last thing he had ever counted on happening, and before he could do anything about the kiss, Ianto pulled back again. His cheeks blushing endearingly, the youth pulled his knees up to his chest, and stared at the screen again that had the DVD menu on again.

“Ianto...” Jack began carefully, but Ianto cut him off with a brisk shake of the head. 

“No, please don't. I don't wanna hear it.”

“You don't know what I'm trying to say,” Jack smiled in fond amusement. 

“You will say that I'm just a stupid kid, and that I'm not  _ him _ ,” he hissed, hurt and embarrassment clear in his voice.

“I told you that you are him.” Jack blinked, thrown for a moment at the rather vicious “him” that Ianto had spat out. “Wait a minute... Are you jealous of yourself?!”

Ianto let out a soft growl as an answer.

“But... “ He grunted. “So much for all the macho 'I'm not gay!' I've been subjected to the whole day.”

Another grumble could be heard from the youth.

Astonished, Jack stared at him, once more trying to figure this man out. In the end, the only conclusion he could come to was that the boy had been attracted to him all along – against his will though, it seemed –, and that he had desperately wanted to hide it behind his insolent, brash attitude; he had probably been angry at himself for feeling like that. Although Jack really didn't know why. They weren't at the estate where being in denial about feeling attracted to guys had probably been the healthiest way to act. No. They were with their friends and colleagues; none of them had any problem with being gay, or rather, being bi. Hadn't he seen that? 

Obviously, the boy hadn't, instead feeling the need to hide what he was really feeling. Huh...

Puzzled, Jack looked at him closely even if the young man didn't want to look at him in return. 

“You're a strange boy, Ianto Jones,” Jack mocked good-naturedly.

“But... will I be a strange man as well?” Ianto asked softly, both of them hearing the small, insecure unspoken “or is he as perfect as I can never be?”

Jack smiled softly, and reached out to gently cup Ianto's cheek with his hand, turning the young man's head back to him so that he had to finally look at him. “Yeah. But a wonderful man as well.” The immortal looked the youth deeply in the eyes. “And you're a wonderful boy, too.”

Unbidden, sudden tears sprang to Ianto's eyes as he read the truth in Jack's words, and saw it in his loving gaze. He leaned into Jack's touch while they still looked at each other, and the young man had never been more open, more vulnerable, and more himself than in that moment in front of this man that seemed to know him so well. 

Slowly, to give Ianto the chance to pull away, Jack slid his hand into the back of Ianto's neck, and pulled him into a gentle kiss.

So much for not wanting to sleep with Ianto...

The youth trembled under his touch, and he breathed a shaky sigh against Jack's lips, but he edged closer until he could tentatively wrap his arms around Jack nonetheless. He held fast to Jack as if the older man was his lifeline. A soft moan escaped his lips when Jack expertly deepened the kiss, telling Jack that the young man in his arms hadn't that much experience with kissing, no matter what he claimed about any girlfriends.

For a long time, the two men made out on the couch, and although the intense snogging they did was very nice, eventually, Ianto began to squirm in Jack's arms impatiently.

_Ah, the impatience of youth_, Jack thought, and the amused chuckle that escaped him caused the teen to pull back, and look questioningly at Jack.

Smiling, the immortal shook his head, and pressed another firm kiss onto Ianto's lips. When he pulled back himself, he looked at the youth closely, enjoying the blush on his cheeks and the rising and falling of his chest as he gulped in deep breaths in his arousal. The debauched look suited him quite well, and if Jack had any say in it, he would make sure that Ianto would look even more delicious when he was through with him.

“What do you want?” Jack asked, lowering his voice seductively and scrutinizing the young man with heavy-lidded eyes.

Ianto gulped. “Ev'rything,” he croak, and couldn't take his wide eyes from Jack. 

Jack laughed good-naturedly. “Whoa there, one thing after the other.”

After all, he didn't want to rush things and overwhelm the young man. Going from “I'm not gay” to “Ev'rything” was quite the step, and he did want him to feel good after all. Anger and tears were the last things they needed tonight. 

Smiling seductively, he crept a little closer to the teen. “Why don't we start like that?” Jack purred, and placed his hands onto Ianto's chest to caress the flat planes there, once and again rubbing his nipples through his T-shirt. He grinned as Ianto let out a moan, and his eyes fell shut involuntarily.

To hear more of these sweet moans, to even intensify them, Jack slipped his hands under the T-shirt, meeting warm skin, and flicking his thumbs over hardened little nubs he suddenly longed to feel under his tongue.

Deciding to do just that, Jack pushed the young man flat onto his back on the couch, and settled between his spread legs. Laying down on him, his chest pressing flat against an eagerly throbbing erection, Jack shoved the fabric up and dove in.

Ianto cried out brokenly when Jack's warm, wet mouth closed over one of his nipples, and when the older man suddenly sucked on the hard nub, Ianto arched up with a sharp gasp, pushing his chest closer to Jack.

After Jack had paid excruciating attention to both of Ianto's nipples, he pulled back to regard the fruits of his labour, his heart swelling with affection looking down onto the flushed, wrecked young man. His gaze strayed down, taking in the obscenely tented jeans, and he knew if he freed the teen's erection from its painfully tight confines, the hard length would be flushed dark red with blood, beckoning Jack to take it into his mouth. 

He looked up again, and met Ianto's feverish gaze. “Bed?” he asked with a crooked smile, and the youth nodded vigorously. 

Sitting up and scrambling from the couch, Jack pulled Ianto to his feet, and, taking his hand, led him into the bedroom.

Once there, he started pulling off his clothes, trying to lessen any inhibitions Ianto may feel by making the first step.

Jack didn't have to be worried though. The young man's wide eyes were glued to his gradually exposed body, no trace of hesitation or embarrassment left. He stood perfectly still after the last item of clothing had fallen to the floor to give Ianto the chance to look at him, taking it all in. Nonetheless, Jack couldn't help the small shudder of delight that went through him at feeling Ianto's eyes on him that intensely.

“Do you want to touch me?”

Ianto nodded mechanically without turning his gaze from Jack.

Winking, Jack went over to the bed and laid down, arching his body in such a way that he looked enticing to the young man watching him.

Swallowing heavily, Ianto shuffled closer, pulling off his own clothes along the way without even seeming to notice, spellbound as he was by the sight before him. 

Jack trembled with anticipation as a naked Ianto finally knelt next to him on the bed. Eagerly, Jack took in the differences in the body for the first time; the more coltish limbs, the slender upper body, and the softer face. What wasn't soft at all though was the familiar flushed cock rising from a nest of dark curls, and Jack drew in a shaky breath at the alluring sight, wondering if it would feel the same if the hard length moved inside him. 

Trembling with nervousness and excitement, Ianto reached out a hesitant hand to place it on to Jack's toned chest. They both shuddered at the electrifying contact. 

After simply letting his hand lay on Jack's chest for a while, feeling the warmth of his flesh and the beating of his heart under his palm, eventually, Ianto became braver. He explored Jack's upper body meticulously, and eventually dared to make his way further down, all the while being closely watched by Jack.

Jack moaned when Ianto's hand closed around his erection a little clumsily, just holding it in his hand for a while. The first tentative strokes up and down the steel-hard length let Jack recall how different this young man was from his lover; this Ianto was slightly unsure of himself and didn't yet know how to touch Jack to give him the most pleasure.

Not that it mattered. For Jack, these fumbled first attempts were as arousing as his older lover's expert touch, simply because it were  _ Ianto's _ first fumbling attempts. 

He was amazed how much stamina – probably because of stubborn determination – the youth showed as he slowly and focused took it upon himself to bring Jack to completion. Since he didn't want to draw it out but instead wanted to give the younger man pleasure, he decided to simply let himself be swept away by ecstasy, not resisting it. Jack let go, and let out a sharp gasp as he came, riding out the waves of pleasure that rippled through him.

Searching Ianto's gaze, the young man looked shocked at having made Jack come. After prying his hand from the still half-hard cock, he stared intensely at the sticky drops of milky fluid covering his hand. Tentatively, he brought his hand up to his mouth, and licked Jack's come off.

The immortal couldn't help the moan that escaped him, and with a swift motion, he sat up, and crushed his lips against Ianto's, invading his mouth with his tongue to taste himself in the other man's mouth.

He swallowed the surprised hitched breath Ianto made at the forceful kiss, and swiftly rearranged them so that Ianto lay back on the mattress with Jack hovering over him. Bending down for a last, possessive kiss, Jack made his way down Ianto's body who, by now, finally looked as if he would burst if he didn't come soon.

“Oh my,” Jack breathed, his hot breath hitting Ianto's stone-hard, dark red erection so that the youth let out a whimper. “That looks painful.”

Ianto nodded jerkily. 

Jack grinned. “Then I suppose I should do something about it.” And with that, he bend his head to lick up the whole length in front of him over and over. 

The whimpering got louder and louder, and by the time Jack finally closed his mouth over the angrily swollen head, Ianto let out a high-pitched screech, his hips coming off the bed automatically, shoving his cock deeper into Jack's mouth.

Being careful not to bring all of his tricks and skills into play since he wanted the younger man to enjoy himself a little longer, Jack set up a gentle rhythm of licking and sucking the hard length carefully while gently massaging the heavy balls underneath.

He marvelled at the intense, different reactions he evoked, always recalling that he was dealing with an inexperienced, impressible teenager. This body, too, was so different and yet so similar to what he was used to from Ianto. It made his heart beat faster in a giddy thrill that he was causing the young man in his arms so much pleasure with such simple touches, and was even more thrilled that Ianto trusted him so much although being with Jack must go against everything he had ever learned. He felt honoured by it, and wondered if Ianto had felt the same when young Javic had trusted the Welshman with his first time a few  months ago (a lot of first times seemed to take place in this bed lately, Jack mused).

No matter the impressive stamina his lover normally showed (thanks to Jack who had had a hand in meticulously training Ianto's endurance up to the level it was today), right now, he was just a teenager with his hormones being in overdrive. And therefore, it wasn't long until the cock in his mouth jerked violently, the balls in his hand drew up and tightened, and Ianto was arching of the bed, a loud yell echoing through the room as he came into Jack's mouth.

Swallowing eagerly all his lover had to offer, Jack crawled back up the young man's body with a smug grin playing around his lips. He crushed his lips against Ianto's, the young man eagerly meeting him halfway, so that they could share the youth's taste between them. 

Soon though, Ianto had to abort the kiss since he was busily trying to come to breath again. Gasping, he sank back into the pillows. He smiled up at Jack, a loving, adoring even, gleam lightening up his blue eyes.

Affectionately pecking his nose, Jack lay down beside Ianto, and pulled the young man into his arms. He was incredibly happy when the youth readily snuggled up to him, and promptly fell asleep.

Initially, Jack had thought the others wouldn't notice any difference in Ianto the next morning since, even as a teenager, Ianto was better at hiding his feelings than Javic had been. Jack could probably be grateful that it took them until noon until they eventually caught on. Fortunately, Gwen (who was probably still a little pissed off with Ianto) just threw her arms in the air in exasperation, and let out a “not you now, too. You really deserve each other!”.

Not thinking it wise to react to Ianto's questioning look at her outburst, Jack ignored him. Owen simply reacted with rolling his eyes while muttering “I hope you used protection” under his breath which finally caused a reaction from Ianto in form of a violent blush. Jack choose to ignore that as well, as well as not correcting the doctor that they hadn't even gone that far.

Tosh, bless her, was much too busy with the device to care for the newest team gossip. As she should be because, as deeply as he had come to care for the youth, Jack wanted the older Ianto back (not at least so that Gwen stopped flashing him dirty looks).

Miraculously having reconciled, Owen eventually took Ianto out for another jaunt in Owen's sports car. This was probably for the better because other than having sex, Jack hadn't a clue what he would have been supposed to do with the mellowed teen.

In the early afternoon, an excited cry from Tosh let the whole team gather around her workstation.

“I think I figured it out,” she beamed, waving the device in her hand.

“You sure?” Jack asked sceptically, although in reality, he could have kissed her; the chances of her being wrong were very slim after all.

She shrugged. “I can't say for sure, of course, but the test runs I did with Ianto's blood samples all showed signs of ageing.”

Jack looked at Ianto inquisitively, crossing his arms in front of his chest to appear more confident to the youth than he felt in reality. “It's your decision. We can wait, and do more tests.”

Ianto bit his lip, thinking hard. “No,” he said eventually. “I trust Tosh.”

Curiously, he blushed, and wouldn't look at Tosh. The tech-genius smiled a little sheepishly at this show of deep trust.

Jack nodded, the way his fingers dug into his upper arms the only sign that he was nervous. “Okay. Tosh, do it.”

Nodding as well, Toshiko pointed the device at Ianto, and pushed some buttons.

The teen screwed his eyes shut tightly, and the others barely dared to breath while they waited for something to happen. 

There was no dramatic flash of light. Ianto didn't collapse screaming either or something equally as horrifying. To be truthful, it was a little anticlimactic. There was a shimmering of the air around him like hot tar on a street in the summer. And suddenly, when the air cleared again, the teen was gone, and in his stead stood their Ianto. 

Tentatively, he opened his eyes while the rest of the team let out a collective whoosh of breath in relief.

“Did it work?” he asked. “I remember... well, the rest of my life instead of only the first fifteen years.”

He met Jack's beaming, relieved grin, and the Captain had a hard time not to rush up to his lover, and engulf him in a crushing hug and probably a steaming kiss.

“Thank you, Tosh.” Ianto finally turned to Tosh. “I owe you a lot of coffee.”

Tosh shrugged, and smiled a little embarrassed. “That was nothing.”

“Just your usual genius,” Jack corrected her, laughing, and threw his arm around her shoulder to pull her into a well-deserved hug since Ianto wouldn't be so extrovert to do it in front of the others. He pressed an exuberant, sloppy kiss against her temple, and whispered a heart-felt “thank you” in her ear. 

She answered by putting her arm around his middle, and squeezing, a gentle, satisfied smile on her face.

With his arms crossed in front of his chest, Jack leaned in the doorway to his small bathroom down in his manhole a little while later, and watched Ianto change into one of the spare suits.

It was only then, as Ianto once more covered himself up with his protective suit, that Jack really realised how different this man was from the teen he'd gotten to know over the last one and a half days. Granted, even as a teenager, Ianto had been introverted, the rebellious devil-may-care attitude just an image to protect himself in the environment he'd grown up in. But just seeing him in a suit again drove home to Jack how hard Ianto had worked to grow into this fabricated image of mysterious, unassuming, cool politeness he had chosen for himself. The changes were remarkable, and Jack made a mental note to ask Ianto why he had changed his demeanour so much. 

At that moment, Ianto noticed Jack from the corner of his eye, and smiled at him a little crookedly. 

“Do you think it will always be like that from now on? Something happens to one of us, and some time later, the other follows with a similar accident as if being in a competition?”

Jack shrugged. “Let's hope not. Don't want to make this a habit, but it was fun though, wasn't it.”

Ianto snorted as an answer, and decided not to comment on that. Instead, he focused on buttoning up his shirt.

“I miss him, you know,” Jack suddenly admitted, his voice wistful and soft.

Ianto paused in what he was doing, and contemplated Jack curiously.

The Captain shrugged. “Granted, I wanted to put him over my knee more than once – and not in the fun way –, but I cared for that angry, sad, vulnerable young man.”

“If it makes you feel better, I could say something corny like 'he's still there',” Ianto deadpanned which made Jack laugh and advance on Ianto.

Ianto let his undone tie he'd put around his neck be, and turned to face Jack.

“But actually, he is,” he said softly.

“I know,” Jack answered with a smile. “And I'm glad. But I'm also happy to have you back.”

“More fun to be had with me, right,” Ianto teased cheekily.

“Oh, definitely,” Jack grinned, and stepped flush against Ianto, putting his hands onto the younger man's hips.

For a little while, they simply looked each other in the eye, drinking in the sight of each other.

“Ianto?” Jack spoke up eventually. 

“Hm?”

“What made you change your mind?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you decide to go to London?” Jack shrugged apologetically with a sheepish smile playing around his lips. “You know, when I look at you, at your younger self, I can only think of, well, that your career could have been way different if you'd stayed here in Cardiff. I mean, someday, you could have given the blowfish a run for their stolen money.”

Ianto cocked a deadpan eyebrow. “Being a petty criminal stealing cars?!”

Jack grinned at him as he realised his affront. “Well, if you put it like that, no. But if you had decided to really hone your skills of pulling the strings in the background, organising everything from the shadows, then I'm sure you would have climbed ranks really fast in Cardiff's underworld.” 

Ianto grunted, amused. “What? Me, the Godfather of Cardiff?”

“Sure, why not.” Jack grinned charmingly. “I know you could do it. You could do anything if you set your mind to it. And yeah, I like the idea of you as the Godfather of Cardiff, of the whole of South Wales even, with an army of blowfish at your beck and call.”

Ianto scrunched up his nose, not sure if he should feel intrigued or appalled by the thought.

Jack laughed heartily at him, but then, he became more serious again. “Even when you were a teenager, I could see your potential. It was simply a decision of going left or right, of using your skills for good or for bad.”

“Some days, I'm not really sure what I'm using them for,” Ianto smiled ruefully.

Impulsively, Jack reached out to grasp for his hand, squeezing it. “Me neither. But I only know it's the right thing to do. Can't always be black and white while doing the right thing, we both know that.”

Unbidden, images of Lisa's lifeless body sprang up in Ianto's mind which he pushed down forcefully again, not wanting the mood between them deteriorating too much into gloomy realms. “Yeah,” he admitted. “You're right.”

“So,” Jack decided to change the topic, trying to lighten up the mood a little himself, and he reached up to do Ianto's tie for him. “You didn't answer my question. What made you stray from your promising career as a criminal mastermind?”

Snorting, Ianto shrugged, and allowed Jack to tie his tie for him. “There was this man...”

“Hey!”

Rolling his eyes, Ianto jabbed Jack in the stomach with one finger. “Not like that. You always were, always will be the only man for me.”

He cringed as he realised that he had maybe let slip a little too much information, but fortunately, Jack wasn't driven away by the last admission (after all, they had only said it once to each other, these three little words that held so much power, and sometimes, it was easy to forget that they had become something more after Javic; falling back into old habits of being just an office affair, and ignoring the complicated deeper feelings and everything that came with them was easier). Instead, Jack actually threw Ianto a huge, smug grin.

“Well, there was this man,” Ianto tried again, glaring pointedly at Jack who got the hint to shut up, and instead obediently finished with Ianto's tie. “He was... I don't know. Different. A little crazy, but... I instantly admired him; bit like you, really. Met him when I wanted to nick his wallet because I was hungry and broke. He didn't drag me to the police though. He wasn't even angry. Just sad for me. And he showed me that there were other perspectives, that I could do more with my life.”

Fascinated, Jack had paused, his hands resting at Ianto's collar while he stared at the younger man. “Who was he?”

Ianto met his eyes. “I don't know. He was tall and gangly, reminded me of a baby giraffe. Couldn't stand still for even one moment, and he wore this absolute ridiculous bow tie. And the wallet I tried to pinch was empty, had just a blank paper inside.” Ianto shrugged apologetically, but then he frowned when he met Jack's suddenly wide, disbelieving eyes.

“What?” He cocked his head. “Jack, what is it?”

“It...” Jack had to swallow heavily since his throat was suddenly bone-dry. “You do realise that, in all likelihood, that was the Doctor?”

Ianto's eyes widened. “What?!”

The corners of Jack's lips quirked up in amusement. “Yeah, seems like it. I don't know if he knew who you were, but if he didn't, then maybe it was fate.”

“What was fate?”

Jack stepped even closer to put his arms around Ianto's waist, and pull him flush against his body. “You, me, Torchwood.”

Ianto's features relaxed into a soft smile, and he wrapped his arms around Jack's middle as well. “With everybody else, this would be the universe's most awful pick-up line,” he grinned drily.

Jack beamed cheekily at him. “But I'm not everybody else.” 

And with that, he leaned forward to take Ianto's lips in a demanding kiss.

_ No _ , Ianto thought.  _ You're not. _

A little while later, the two men reappeared up in the Hub together, a healthy flush on their cheeks that told their colleagues all they needed to know. 

They had to refrain from groaning and rolling their eyes in exasperation.

Instead of reacting to his colleagues' knowing glances, Ianto promptly fetched a big bin bag to start tidying up all the rubbish that had accumulated in the course of only one and a half days.

“Weren't you on bin-duty?” Ianto asked Owen when he reached the doctor's work station, and attempted to plough his way through the chaos there.

Owen just grunted without turning his eyes from his video game.

“Our luck that Owen's such a slob, and didn't follow up on Jack's orders,” Gwen quipped. “If he'd worked more thoroughly instead of just emptying the bins, the Second-Chance-Device would have ended up in the rubbish.”

Ianto had to actually agree with Gwen for once. He shuddered at the horrifying thought of staying a teenager forever only because the device that could turn him back had ended up in the incinerator (which was where all of their rubbish went; not that the rest of them knew that since they'd never taken the rubbish out).

For an answer, Owen grunted, and flipped his colleague off, then he took a long drink from a Cola tin, and chucked it in the direction of the rubbish bin when it was empty.

“Owen!” Ianto snapped, glaring at the tin that had clattered to the ground next to the rubbish bin, and then up at the doctor. Owen clearly had done that on purpose.

“For God's sake! I liked you better when you were a rebellious brat.” The doctor threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

“I imagine. You must have finally felt in equal company for a change.” 

Sneering, Owen flipped him off as well, and made his way back into the med bay for some peace and quiet.

Jack stood in the door to his office, watching his team, and he could only shake his head in amusement. Just another week at Torchwood. Ianto's adventure had been forgotten already, and they were back to business as usual. There had been stranger things going on at Torchwood than being changed back to a teenager after all. But nonetheless, Jack was glad it had happened. It helped him understand and get to know Ianto better. Much like being turned back into a child himself had helped Ianto to understand Jack better. And if it took harmless incidents like that for them to progress in their relationship, that they even helped to enrich it, then Jack was completely fine with that.

** End **

**Author's Note:**

> Ianto's fateful encounter with the Doctor has been inspired by [Tamaar's](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5359769) "Perfect Tense". Even if it was short and had something like an open end, the story touched me.


End file.
